Cinderella’s Castle is about to be 50 and nifty, but, for a few days in March 2020, she wasn’t very pretty during the day.

Back in the day, I feel pretty confident that Walt Disney would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let guests see bright orange cranes, out in the open and during the day, to spoil the “magic’ experience for guests at Magic Kingdom.

  • Nothing like seeing bright orange in your Cindy pics
  • Painting away…
  • Photo Op anyone?

Alas, that is not what guests were treated to in the days those first weeks in March of 2020.

Nope, the first thing guests saw were the brightest, orange cranes looking like octopus tentacles on all sides of the castle.

The Imagineers should have at least considered having the painters dress like the “Gus-Gus” and the other mice from Cinderella’s tale. Might have been a fun way to ‘overlook’ while the mice were busy dressing up Cinderella’s Castle.

I guess, I am of the belief that if this painting HAD to be during the day, I feel certain Walt would have made sure drapes or curtains or something would have been hiding Cinderella Castle and the orange ‘tentacles’.

However, according to the Disney Blog, Jason Kirk, VP has confirmed that “while temporary construction equipment may be present while Cinderella Castle receives its royal makeover, it will remain uncovered and we will do our best to ensure guests are still able to capture special photos and memories in this iconic spot.”

Can you imagine if this was your forever trip and this is what your backdrop was for your family memories?

I feel certain that Walt would have been sad to see ugly orange cranes be the first thing you see as you walk down “Main Street USA”.

The good news was that by noon, the cranes were tucked away and out of site (mostly) from the guests and the magic could continue.

Hopefully, the folks that took their family pics earlier in the day, got to ‘retake’ them later in the day.

Then again, being the forever optimist, I suppose another way you could look at it, is that 50 years from now, your family photos will document Disney World / Magic Kingdom history as it happened. 🙂

Please know that I am not usually grumpy about anything Disney, but, this one kind of bothered me. How would you have felt if your one-and-only memory of Cinderella Castle had orange tentacles in your background??

UPDATED May 2020: With COVID closing the parks, it appears that Disney is working to complete Cinderella’s make-over without guests around. She is a beauty and I can’t wait to see “her” again in July 2020.